Meets for 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion each week for 10 weeks.

Computer Usage:

Students will use a commercial programming language (e.g. MATLAB) to write a finite element code that allows the solution of arbitrarily complex trusses and frames.

Laboratory Projects:

None.

Professional Component

Contributes towards the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Design.

Design Content Description

Approach:

Various design projects: For example, students will design, fabricate and test a minimum-weight truss structure that satisfies prescribed load-bearing requirements, subject to other design constraints. Students will design, fabricate and test a minimum-weight truss structure that satisfies prescribed load-bearing requirements subject to other design constraints. In addition to this, the design activity involves short design problems which are incorporated into the homework assignments and which introduce the phases of design. These problems address: (a) factor of safety and allowable stresses, (b) basic considerations for the design of prismatic beams, and (c) factors involved in the design and use of pressure vessels.